Algae growing into big business

It looks like a scene from a sci-fi film: Colored lights shine on test tubes of algae.

As the organisms grow, they're transferred to ever larger tanks. A centrifuge removes the fluids, and a reddish paste emerges full of nutrients. Extracts then are mixed with oils that can sell for $90 an ounce as night-repair skin serum.

Welcome to Algae to Omega, a one-of-a-kind business in South Florida that grows and processes algae indoors.

After years of research and development, and with one patent sought, the Oakland Park company recently began selling its wares for beauty, health and nutrition markets.

Worldwide, algae — with more than 100,000 strains including kelp and seaweed — is becoming big business. Companies are growing it on a large scale outdoors for a range of applications including biofuel, said Sean O'Hanlon, former chief of Miami-based American Biofuels Council and a specialist in algae and clean technologies.

Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into U.S. algae ventures, mainly in California.

Algae to Omega is a pioneer in the field. Company executives say they're familiar with just one big producer that grows algae indoors and only a handful worldwide that grow its reddish strain of algae. None use the chemical-free, low-heat extraction that Algae to Omega has developed to draw out oils, executives said.

The privately-held business now employs 10 people, including an aquaculture expert. When new financing comes through to buy more equipment, it aims to double jobs and supply such chains as Whole Foods.

"We have more orders than we can fill," said Geronimos Dimitrelos, the chief executive who has worked on the venture for about five years. "If we had the capital to buy more lights, we could fill more tanks and fill more orders. We have one company that wants up to 40,000 kilos a year."

Algae to Omega taps the rising popularity of such nutrients as Omega-3, a fatty acid found in salmon and other fish and known for reducing inflammation. Fish get those nutrients from eating algae or other small marine life that eats algae, Dimitrelos said.

But harvesting the algae is not as simple as scooping it from lakes or the sea. To get maximum strength and consistent quality of nutrients, it's best to cultivate the right strains in a controlled setting, he said.

Algae to Omega focuses mainly on haematococcus, known for antioxidant astaxanthin — "the pink color you see in salmon," Dimitrelos said. Astaxanthin is used in medical treatments and cosmetics.

The company takes about two months to farm and harvest the algae, starting from tiny bits placed in a glass plate with nutrients and set under LED lights at certain wavelengths to stimulate their growth.

Every part of the algae is eventually used — for different applications.

For the precious night-repair serum, what's sought are certain oils: "Think of an egg. We want the yolk — no shell or white. And within that yolk, we want the astaxanthin," said Dimitrelos. Getting that involves disrupting the cell wall with sound, low heat and natural acids in a process seeking a patent, he said.

Oils and other products also are sold as a vegan alternative to krill oil, infused in olive oil, as antioxidant capsules or animal feed, among other uses, he said.

So far, Algae to Omega has raised about $5 million. It has invested some $3 million in equipment at its 60,000-square-foot base at 1201 NE 38th St. in Oakland Park, re-zoned to allow aquaculture. The company recorded its first sales in December for about $40,000. It projects about $1.5 million in sales this year, said Ralph Dominguez, the president who has been raising cash for the venture.

"This is not an easy business. There are high barriers to entry" in equipment costs and scientific know-how, Dominguez said. "And we are cultivating the prima-donna of algae."